I just finished reading “The three mistakes of my life.” The only regret I have is why didn’t I read it earlier. When I started off reading it, I got mixed reactions; some said its good; some said its bad, so I decided to dig into it and find for myself.
I was reluctant to continue a few pages through the book as I felt I would have a sad feeling at the end of this book. But I continued, and I was glad I did; it was so engrossing that I flipped page after page till the end. And yes, it has a happy ending :-). So the verdict is its the best among all the three that Chetan Bhagat has written.
The book has fiction (if you thought it’s about Chetan’s life, you are wrong:-)), sentiment, romance, social message, business, life, relations, religion, and of course, Cricket. The unique thing I found in this book is that Chetan has addressed a sensitive issue in the most sensible way possible. He has presented the facts, neutrally narrated a story.
It’s the story about three friends Omi, Govind, and Ish. The story is presented through Govind’s eyes, and it’s his three mistakes(???) of life presented along. Govind is a true Gujarati, interested in coming up on his own in life, through business. Ish is an avid cricket player whose passion lies in playing, teaching, and watching cricket. Omi is a priest’s son who doesn’t have any ambition and moves along with his two friends. These simple people’s journey in life, how their lives get affected by the worst disasters in Gujarat’s history is portrayed in a simple yet efficient way by Chetan. This book also teaches you how your dreams crash into pieces by unexpected events but how with support from people around you, you get back on track, focus, and rebuild your dreams.
This novel especially comes when people only want to come up with excuses to show or feel how different they are rather than see the common aspects and bring oneness, which can keep us together and achieve our common goal of growth, peace, and prosperity. The language is simple; it connects well with India’s youth, the narration has improved; all in all, Chetan has improved in all the departments of writing a book. He has again proved that to be the best novelist, you don’t need fabulous vocabulary, or you don’t need awesome critics review; all you need is a thread to connect to people’s plain minds. Truly his best book ever.
Finally, Chetan ends the book with a message like in “One night @ call center,” which goes out to everyone in this country.
Life will have many setbacks. People close to you will hurt you. But you don’t break it off. You don’t hurt them more. You try to heal it. It is a lesson not only for you, but our country needs to learn.
Chetan Bhagat
It does make you think about certain aspects, and the feeling lingers with you for a long time. That is what you would remember after many long years that you have read the book, and of course, guys would remember the Cricket and the girl :) (A typical character found in his last two novels).
So this book is for you if you are
- Someone from Gujarat or Ahmedabad can relate a lot to the slang, attitude, and places described.
- You like masala, drama with a tint of reality.
- You are NOT an English language freak and are looking for a simple, engrossing, time-killing novel.
- Last but not least, you are a fan of Chetan Bhagat :)
Want to know more.. check out ChetanBhagat.com
Price: Rs. 95/-
you can get it online at these stores:
FlipKart.com, IndiaTimes.com, OxfordBookStore.com, TheHinduShopping.com